"The volatility of the global economy will continue to accompany us in 2026," said Meyer, whose contract was extended by the Supervisory Board on Wednesday through March 2031. Despite these challenges, DHL now aims for operating earnings (Ebit) of over 6.2 billion euros—up from 6.1 billion euros in 2025. "Our forecast explicitly does not factor in any improvement in the global economic environment," Meyer emphasized.
"We achieved our targets in 2025—also thanks to structural cost improvements," the DHL chief stated. Revenue declined by 1.6 percent to 82.9 billion euros, partly due to shrinking shipment volumes in the vital Express division to the USA. However, Ebit rose by 3.7 percent to 6.1 billion euros, thanks to savings, and net profit climbed by over five percent to 3.5 billion euros. Shareholders are set to receive a dividend of 1.90 euros per share for 2025, up from 1.85 euros the previous year. Meyer had begun cost-cutting measures as early as the start of 2025.
AROUND 16,000 FEWER JOBS
In the mail and parcel division in Germany, 8,000 jobs—or about four percent of the roughly 190,000 positions—were eliminated. The target was achieved through "natural attrition," according to the DHL chief. But DHL also cut jobs in other regions. By the end of 2025, the group employed just under 584,000 people—down from around 601,000 the previous year. Overall, costs are to be reduced group-wide by more than one billion euros by 2027. The logistics giant made progress last year: "In total, our Fit for Growth cost program contributed over 600 million euros gross to operating earnings in 2025," said the DHL chief.
The tariff policy of U.S. President Donald Trump is "mainly slowing down trade on routes to the USA, but also U.S. exports," Meyer had already complained last year. The tariff conflict also left its mark on the books in Bonn: While the German mail and parcel business grew, revenue in the largest division, Express, shrank. In international freight, both revenue and profit plummeted. "The global freight forwarding market in 2025 was characterized by ongoing geopolitical conflicts and increasing uncertainty regarding tariffs," the company reported.
The consequences of the Iran conflict are now adding to the challenges for logistics providers. Competitor Kühne+Nagel, for example, expects shifts in global trade flows as a result of the Middle East conflict. Air freight is likely to face bottlenecks, Kühne+Nagel CEO Stefan Paul recently stated. "We see that about 18 percent of global air freight capacity is currently grounded due to the situation."
Other competitors such as UPS and FedEx are also tightening costs and raising prices wherever possible in response to these developments. UPS announced at the end of January that it would cut an additional 30,000 jobs. The U.S. parcel giant, which is also suffering from the effects of Trump's tariff policy, had already eliminated 48,000 jobs and closed 93 locations. At Kühne+Nagel, more than 2,000 jobs are set to be cut.
Meyer, however, remains optimistic about managing the economic fallout from the Iran war: "As tragic as this military conflict is, it does not dampen our confidence for 2026." DHL already has a tightly knit distribution network in the region. This allows DHL to flexibly reroute goods flows—for example, transporting goods by road to airports that are still operational. One such example is the airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi. Edited by Ralf Banser. For queries, please contact our editorial team at frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com.)
